Belgrade 2026: Hungary and Serbia to clash for European gold after winning epic semi-final clashes

Hungary were the first team to book their place in Sunday’s gold medal game after a defensive masterclass and some clinical man-up finishing saw them sweep Greece aside. The Greeks started brightly, leading 3-1 in the opening minutes, but the Magyars successfully shut down their rivals’ attack, while firing in eight of their nine shots on extra to help seal a memorable victory. Later, hosts Serbia powered past Italy with a devastating show of their strength, much to the delight of the thousands of fans packed inside a rocking Belgrade Arena. Dusan Mandic and Strahinja Rasovic were the danger men, both hammering in four goals each, and they will now contest their third successive home European Championships final in Belgrade.

Men’s 2026 European Water Polo Championships – Belgrade
Day 14, Friday 23 January

Semi-finals

Greece 12-15 Hungary
Serbia 17-13 Italy

Semi-finals

Greece 12-15 Hungary
(5-4, 3-4, 2-4, 2-3)

In arguably one of the most beautiful games played at this level in recent years, Hungary downed the Greeks with some clinical man-up finishing (scoring 8 of their 9 shots) and great defending.

Both sides offered a series of magnificent combinations in attack, but the Magyar defence stepped up after conceding five goals in the first eight minutes and allowed only seven more for the Greeks in the next three quarters to reach the final for the third time in five editions.

A penalty, converted by Konstantinos Genidounias, kicked off the show, next came Krisztian Manhercz and an out-of-this-world shot from the perimeter to set the tone for another epic encounter in Belgrade.

The Greeks were defending well, while Konstantinos Kakaris finished off their first man-up from the post and Dimitrios Skoumpakis came up with a fierce shot from the perimeter to make it 3-1.

David Tatrai sent the ball home from the Magyars’ first six-on-five, then Akos Nagy buried another one 53 seconds later to level things up.

The Greeks replied with a fine double, Skoumpakis fired in another extra and soon after, Nikolaos Gkillas stunned Soma Vogel with a brilliant wrist shot from the right wing for 5-3.

However, the Hungarians stayed close, and Vendel Vigvari had a clean shot in their third six-on-five to make it 5-4 and a block killed the last Greek extra in this quarter.

Manhercz buried the Magyars’ first extra in the second period to equalise at 5-5, though it was just as important Stylianos Argyropoulos got his second exclusion before that, which sent the Greek scoring machine to the bench for painfully long minutes.

Still, Alexandros Papanastasiou sneaked to the post from the wing for another dunk-like finish in the following man-up, but just nine seconds later, Manhercz sent another pinpoint shot into the net for 6-6.

Twelve goals in little more than 10 minutes promised a feast, but the next three minutes showed that both sides tried to pay more attention to keeping some order at the back.

Vogel stopped Skoumpakis’ shot in a man-down, then the Greeks missed another extra, but later a magnificent combination set up Kakaris in front for an easy put-away.

In the next six-on-five, the Greeks wanted to chase down Manhercz, quite understandably, only to leave enough space for Vince Varga, who hit another equaliser.

Papanikolaou’s fierce bouncer ended up behind Vogel, but leftie Akos Nagy copied him to make it even again at 8-8, which became the half-time score as each side ran out of ideas in the last two minutes.

The Greeks went for a goalie change in the middle break, while the Hungarians kept their trust in Soma Vogel – and that faith started paying off early in the second.

He made a huge stop in the opening man-down, while Manhercz sent the ball behind Panagiotis Tzortzatos to keep the Magyars’ perfect record in man-ups.

Vogel delivered another save while Adam Nagy doubled their lead from a perfect perimeter shot.

In 40 seconds, the Greeks were down by two and when Vogel denied Argyropoulos in another six-on-five, it was visible that Hungary were starting to dominate.

Approaching the four-minute mark, Zsombor Vismeg found a small space to score another action goal from the centre for 8-11.

Theodoros Vlachos had seen enough at this point and called an emergency time-out, as the Magyars were on a roll (3-0 in this quarter), but they still needed to survive two more possessions before Argyropoulos sent an unlikely shot to goal and, after a missed centre shot and a turnover foul, Efsthatios Kalogeropoulos finished off a six-on-five to bring the Greeks back to life at 10-11.

But that didn’t rock the Hungarians’ confidence and Vendel Vigvari converted their next extra (they were 7 for 7 at this point) to reset the two-goal gap, which they kept as they could kill another man-down.

A small hope for the Greeks came when Adam Nagy’s bouncer flew above the crossbar in the first extra of the fourth quarter, but Fekete’s monster block denied Argyropoulos’ finish in their man-up too.

A rare miss on the counter by Fekete offered another chance for the Greeks, but again the ball ended up in Vogel’s hand in a man-down, and the next counter wasn’t missed by Szilard Jansik, even though it needed a review to confirmed the ball had crossed the line.

Down by three and with five minutes to play, Greece were playing under growing pressure and when Kakaris’ nice backhander hit the post, it was a telling scene, suggesting this might not have been their day.

And with 3:45 to go, they were in deeper trouble, as Hungary forced another man-up and Adam Nagy had no hesitation to let the ball fly again, and it was unstoppable once more.

It was 10-14 with 3:45 on the clock, which forced the Greeks to try fast finishes, something they otherwise really hate to do as their game is about patient build-up play.

Indeed, that didn’t work. A hurried shot hit the post and they were lucky when Vendel Vigvari pushed the ball onto the post from an open opportunity.

When Kakaris finally halted their scoreless run after 7:49 minutes with a magnificent lob from the centre, only 1:41 remained in the game and they still trailed by three.

After a steal, another quick shot was gone, and when Argyropoulos finally scored an extra-man goal – after they had missed the previous four – only 44 seconds were left.

A time-out from Hungary was called to calm the players, while Greek coach Vlachos made a challenge, but since he wanted to review something not on the VAR menu, it was not only rejected, but came with a yellow card.

Since he had already received one before, he was sent away from the bench with a red.

His players had to take a risk as the shot clock was ticking down, so most of them piled forward, and an unmarked Vendel Vigvari beat the goalie once more from the wing 20 seconds from time to seal Hungary’s sensational victory and send them through to Sunday’s final.

Semi-finals

Serbia 17-13 Italy
(5-3, 4-4, 6-3, 2-3)

Unlike in their previous two big games against Hungary and Spain, the Serbs dominated this match right from the start and, despite a serious blow late in the second period – losing captain Nikola Jaksic with a red card – they kept the game under firm control to reach the final at the third Europeans staged in Belgrade.

The Italians, sometimes looking bewildered in the fully packed Belgrade Arena, were unable to bring their A game to the pool and, once falling behind by four early in the third, they had no chance of a comeback – Milan Glusac’s 14 saves kept them in check and earned the MVP Award for the young goalkeeper.

The Serbs began the game in style, with two huge blasts from Dusan Mandic and Nikola Jaksic, though Lorenzo Bruni could put away an extra between the two.

The Serbs had two more great chances, but they missed a six-on-four (blocked) and a clean shot from the centre (post), and soon Matteo Iocchi Gratta hit a big one from the perimeter which somehow travelled through the sea of arms.

The Italians also missed an extra and Mandic’s blast from six metres gave the lead back to the Serbs. Not for long, though, as Edoardo Di Somma just did the same at the other end.

However, the Serbs managed to bury two six-on-fives, by Strahinja Rasovic and then Nikola Dedovic, though Marco del Lungo was close both times (and had one save on the second, but not the follow-up).

Since the Italians’ set-up on the two-metre line didn’t work in their last six-on-five, the Serbs led 5-3, something they hadn’t experienced in their previous two big matches, when they had to fight back to tie the first-quarter score against Spain and Hungary.

They were up by three early in the second as Vasilije Martinovic netted another man-up, which also saw Di Somma swimming out with his second major foul, which was a real blow for the Settebello.

Francesco Condemi pulled one back from a six-on-five, but Viktor Rasovic hit a big one from the perimeter, just after Francesco De Michelis had been brought into the Italian goal.

Though the Italians survived the next man-down and forced a penalty from the ensuing counter, the Serbs were still on a roll and Milos Cuk quickly reset the three-goal gap from their next extra at 8-5.

The Italians had three shots in their man-up but all were denied – but the Serbs’ offensive intensity also dropped, De Michelis delivered a couple of saves and Tommaso Gianazza had an easy finish in their next counter-like extra for 8-6.

A penalty call in a Serbian man-up and an Italian challenge gave the referees some work as they were asked to examine a fierce exchange on the wing, which ended in a red card for Nikola Jaksic and erased the penalty from the books.

The Italians missed the chance to further frustrate the Serbians, as they missed their extra, and the hosts’ next possession saw Mandic finish off their man-up to make it 9-6 instead of 8-7.

Still, Iocchi Gratta kept his calm and fired one in from the outside with seven seconds remaining to set the half-time score at 9-7.

Iocchi Gratta’s first attempt in the third crashed off the crossbar, while Mandic’s trademark six-metre shot did the damage once more.

Then the Italians wasted back-to-back six-on-fives in one possession, while one was enough for the Serbs to lead by four after a close-range finish by Djordje Lazic (Italy also lost Di Somma here after his third exclusion).

The Serbs carried on their momentum and, after another Italian extra went begging with a two-metre violation, Strahinja Rasovic sent the ball home from their own extra for 12-7.

Sandro Campagna tried to reverse the tide with a time-out and Alessandro Balzarini had a clean shot to pull one back.

A turnover foul was called on the Serbs’ extra, but their defence did enough to stop Iocchi Gratta’s attempt in a six-on-five, while Nemanja Vico came up with a great centre shot to restore the five-goal gap.

Francesco Condemi converted the next Italian man-up, but even luck was on the hosts’ side as what looked like fine man-down defending, halting the cross in the air, saw the ball apparently fall behind the line.

VAR confirmed it, awarding the goal to Strahinja Rasovic, who initiated the pass.

Condemi scored a nice action goal from the wing, but the Serbs tore apart the Italian man-down defence once more and Vico had an easy put-away for 15-10.

The Italians couldn’t convert their last extra either, as Glusac came up with his 12th save.

In the fourth quarter, despite an early strike from Italy in a six-on-four, the Serbs’ festival continued, with Lazic netting a rebound and then Strahinja Rasovic having a clean shot in a man-up – the Serbs stood at 70% shot efficiency, 17 for 24, a truly amazing feat.

That number dropped slightly when Del Lungo stopped Rasovic’s penalty, but Glusac also got a hand to Bruni’s effort at the other end to make the atmosphere in the fully packed arena even more electrifying.

Uros Stevanovic called a time-out with 4:36 to go, but at 17-11 it looked more like a formality, as Italy didn’t seem ready to mount a comeback. They managed to score two more, but it was too late and too little to spoil the Serbian party.

Milan Glusac finished the match with 14 saves – in sharp contrast, only five were recorded by the Italian goalkeepers combined.

The hosts reached the final as they did in 2006 and 2016 when they played at home in Belgrade – and just like 20 years ago, they will clash with Hungary for the title on Sunday.

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Gergely Csurka for European Aquatics

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